Do spider plants have memory?
I love spider plants. So pretty. So easy. So recursive.
(One thing I've wanted to do for a long time is build a giant multitiered hanging-pot assembly containing several generations of baby spider plants surrounding a huge mother plant. Because of the erratic way they send out their stolons, any hanging framework would need to be easily and finely customizable -- I'm envisioning some kind of wire grid fixed to the ceiling, with pots hanging from chainmaille chains that I can make to order.)
While I was walking home last night, a random thought popped into my head: when a spider plant sends out a daughter plant and it touches down successfully and takes root, does the mother plant remember? Does it send out more runners in that general direction? Similarly, does it learn to avoid sending runners to spaces where daughter plants have failed to take root?
Extensive Google Scholaring seems to reveal that no one has tried to investigate this.
So now I want to work on this as a side project. There seem to be no MIT biology faculty who work with plants. (Can't say I'm surprised -- plants are much slower than bacteria or mice or fruit flies, after all.) So it doesn't look like I'll be able to work this into a UROP, as much as I'd like to. But spider plants are easy to care for, and can be kept small. The first stages of experiment wouldn't need much space anyway -- figuring out how best to grow spider plants, whether I can grow them hydroponically to reduce mess, what lighting/watering is good, how often they send out runners, etc etc.
Ideally, for the actual experiment I'd get space in a rooftop greenhouse operated by MIT. There isn't one. And if I move to EC, the windows are east-west, which tends to cut the amount of sunlight that comes in. Which would mean I'd need artificial lighting. Which would actually be a good thing, since by definition sunlight that comes in a window always comes from the same direction, and this is bad in a study that involves directionality. It shouldn't be too hard -- I know a person in Random who has a gorgeous miniature garden with artificial lighting, so I can consult with her when I set up my own.
Quite apart from doing research, growing plants is just so satisfying. And plants are pretty. And it doesn't take very much time. Certainly less expensive / time-consuming than keeping pets.
(One thing I've wanted to do for a long time is build a giant multitiered hanging-pot assembly containing several generations of baby spider plants surrounding a huge mother plant. Because of the erratic way they send out their stolons, any hanging framework would need to be easily and finely customizable -- I'm envisioning some kind of wire grid fixed to the ceiling, with pots hanging from chainmaille chains that I can make to order.)
While I was walking home last night, a random thought popped into my head: when a spider plant sends out a daughter plant and it touches down successfully and takes root, does the mother plant remember? Does it send out more runners in that general direction? Similarly, does it learn to avoid sending runners to spaces where daughter plants have failed to take root?
Extensive Google Scholaring seems to reveal that no one has tried to investigate this.
So now I want to work on this as a side project. There seem to be no MIT biology faculty who work with plants. (Can't say I'm surprised -- plants are much slower than bacteria or mice or fruit flies, after all.) So it doesn't look like I'll be able to work this into a UROP, as much as I'd like to. But spider plants are easy to care for, and can be kept small. The first stages of experiment wouldn't need much space anyway -- figuring out how best to grow spider plants, whether I can grow them hydroponically to reduce mess, what lighting/watering is good, how often they send out runners, etc etc.
Ideally, for the actual experiment I'd get space in a rooftop greenhouse operated by MIT. There isn't one. And if I move to EC, the windows are east-west, which tends to cut the amount of sunlight that comes in. Which would mean I'd need artificial lighting. Which would actually be a good thing, since by definition sunlight that comes in a window always comes from the same direction, and this is bad in a study that involves directionality. It shouldn't be too hard -- I know a person in Random who has a gorgeous miniature garden with artificial lighting, so I can consult with her when I set up my own.
Quite apart from doing research, growing plants is just so satisfying. And plants are pretty. And it doesn't take very much time. Certainly less expensive / time-consuming than keeping pets.